Medieval with its chapel dedicated to St Thomas the Martyr, a reconstruction produced by the late Peter Jackson

THE BRIDGE CHAPELS OF MEDIEVAL The Wardens and Assistants of Rochester BRITAIN: a new gazetteer, plus Bridge (the Rochester Bridge Trust) and the cases studies and an international Bridge House Estates (established in 1282 to overview. maintain London Bridge in the City of London) represent extremely rare survivals of civic May 2019 bridge maintenance groups. Since the 12th Compiled by David Harrison, Peter McKeague century, and in all probability from much and Bruce Watson earlier, responsibility for maintaining and repairing Rochester Bridge lay with 54 parishes, manors and estates in the surrounding area. After the destruction of the Introduction bridge by flood in 1381 construction of a new Today national government agencies or local bridge with a chapel on its southern approach authorities are generally responsible for the were largely funded by Sir John Cobham and construction and maintenance of roads and Sir Robert Knolles. Subsequently Letters , but in the Middle Ages the situation Patent of Richard II consolidated the earlier was quite different. Instead, landowners (both arrangement into a communality charged with secular and ecclesiastical) and local electing two wardens to oversee the communities undertook these duties. Bridge administration of the bridge through a trust in construction and maintenance were seen as 1399. Funds received enabled the trust to pious and charitable deeds because these maintain and eventually replace the bridge in actions were helping the community and 1856 and add two further bridges in 1970. preventing deaths or serious accidents which Today the restored chapel forms part of the might occur when people waded across fords. offices of the Trust known as the Bridge Prior to the , crosses and chapels Chamber on Rochester Esplanade (Fig 1). were common sights at bridges enabling travellers to offer prayers and (monetary) The practice of constructing bridge chapels in thanks on setting out or completing a journey. Britain and beyond during the medieval period is the subject of a major research project Some bridge chapels were founded to undertaken by David Harrison, Peter commemorate through prayer the deceased McKeague and Bruce Watson with the especially those who had funded the bridge Rochester Bridge Trust sponsoring the and or chapel. Elsewhere those who publication (see below for details). maintained the bridge, paid for the expenses of the chapel, as at London, Rochester and York. In a few instances the bridge chaplain was responsible for the maintenance of the bridge.

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Figure 2. The restored chapel on Town Bridge, St Ives During the 13th century it became increasingly popular to leave an endowment for a priest or priests to say Mass on a regular basis either for a period or permanently for the benefit of the benefactor to reduce their time in Purgatory (the place in which the souls of those who died in a state of grace are believed to undergo a limited period of suffering to expiate their venial sins before they go to heaven). In common with other religious foundations, some bridge chapels benefited from such Figure 1. The façade of the Rochester Bridge chantry endowments. Only the wealthiest and chapel generally urban bridge chapels possessed a full-time priest. Rochester Bridge chapel from What are bridge chapels? 1399 until 1549 generally was staffed by three priests. Other chapels may have held only A bridge chapel is defined as a place a worship occasional services and Masses and some situated at the end of or built onto the examples were maintained by secular hermits. structure of the bridge. Ideally, the (see below). relationship between the chapel and the bridge it served should be documented to Some chapels like those on London Bridge (City prove that there was a link between these of London, see frontispiece) or Ouse Bridge in adjoining structures, but some sites possess no York were clearly integral features of such documentation. Most of the best-known construction. While the construction of some surviving examples of bridge chapels - St chapels, such as Catterick Bridge (North Bénezet’s Bridge, Avignon (France) see below, Yorkshire), Foss Bridge (York), Old Trent Bridge St Ives (Cambridgeshire) (Fig 2) or Wakefield (Nottingham) and Rochester were linked with (West Yorkshire) see below, all possess chapels either with the replacement or rebuilding of situated on an enlarged bridge pier. These existing bridges. Many bridge chapels are well-known examples have affected the poorly documented, so details like their popular perception of bridge chapels. Many precise location or dedication cannot be bridge chapels were located either at one end determined. While some possible examples of a bridge or situated a short distance away. which appear to be undocumented have only As well as Rochester, remains of chapels by the been identified from visual evidence. bridge end may be found at Cromford (Derbyshire) and Morpeth (Northumberland) (Fig 3).

2 There are numerous examples of indulgences (), formerly possessed a cross (a remission of time your soul would spend in and an inscription. In 1956 a copy of the purgatory being cleansed of sin, so after this vanished inscription and a replacement cross process it could pass into heaven) being was erected on the bridge approach (Fig 4). granted by medieval bishops, archbishops and popes for the fabric of bridges and chapels. One early recipient of this practice was Thrapston Bridge (Northamptonshire). In 1213-14 Bishop of Hugh of Wells granted an indulgence to travellers contributing to the bridge and in 1313 Bishop Dalderby granted an indulgence on behalf of the fabric of the chapel.

Figure 4. The replacement cross and inscription at the end of Maisemore Bridge

Figure 3. The west front of Morpeth chapel Hospitals and Monasteries Hospitals, leprosaria (Leper hospitals) and Related Monuments monastic houses were an important aspect of medieval society found in urban, suburban and Crosses rural locations. Some were situated along bridge approach roads, where they could At a number of bridges, crosses are collect alms from wayfarers and offer shelter documented. These may once have been very to travellers. Documentary evidence confirms common features on bridges, but little that some of these institutions were evidence has survived. Presumably, they were responsible for the maintain of the adjacent places where donations could be offered or bridge, such as the Hospital of St Mary at prayers said. Plaques served as a public Strood (Kent), which was founded in 1192-93, reminder of the generosity of donors and by 1277 the hospital was running St Mary’s asked that travellers remember them in their chapel located at the north-western end of prayers. The number of crosses by or at bridges Rochester Bridge. Another example of this will never be known as they are largely practice was St Bartholomew’s Hospital at undocumented in medieval sources. Almost all Westgate Bridge in . Harnham the examples of English bridge crosses were Hospital. Salisbury (Wiltshire), founded by destroyed during the Reformation and the Bishop Bingham of Salisbury before 1227, succeeding centuries. Maisemore Bridge initially also maintained the adjoining bridge

3 across the River Avon and St John’s Chapel. The convert the eastern end of St Ninian’s Chapel bishop originally intended that the chaplains of into a lighthouse. St John’s would conduct Masses for the benefit of travellers in the chapel with offerings Bridge Hermits collected paying for the bridge maintenance. Medieval hermits are often defined as male In 1397 the endowment of a chantry based in recluses, who withdrew from society and the new chapel at one end of Cross Bridge. sought a solidary existence. However, some Beverley (East Yorkshire) was also linked with pious laymen with a religious vocation, but establishment of a nearby new hospital for whose calling did not fit with any of the ‘twelve poor persons’ (Calendar Patent Rolls monastic orders or priesthood also described 1396-99, 162). Such well documented cases themselves as hermits, but they did not live as are rare. recluses. Sometimes, these pious individuals supported themselves by undertaking social Documentary evidence implies that the small duties including maintaining roads and chapel at Duxford (Cambridgeshire) standing bridges, the sort of philanthropic works now on the low causeway beyond Whittlesford undertaken by public bodies. Occasionally, Bridge, is the last remnant of the hospital of St ordinated priests became bridge hermits, but John the Baptist (founded c.1200, dissolved most of these individuals apparently were not c.1337) (Fig 5). However, all too often the members of any religious order. For instance, relationship between the religious institution in 1366 the hermit of Stockport Bridge and the adjacent bridge cannot be proven by (Cheshire) was a priest, who also ran the bridge documentary evidence chapel. Some medieval bridges possessed hermitage chapels and some hermits served as bridge-keepers (collecting alms, tolls, raising funds etc.). There was a hermitage chapel at Dartford Bridge (Kent) by 1415-16. Today a small stained glass window (added 1905) in north- west corner Holy Trinity parish church in Dartford, commemorates the hermits of Dartford, it is known as ‘the hermit’s window’

(Fig 6). Figure 5. Duxford Chapel Fords, ferries and lighthouses A number of medieval fords and ferries also possessed chapels for travellers to offer prayer before or on completion of a safe journey. At Wadebridge (Cornwall) before the bridge was constructed during the 15th century there were chapels at either end of the ford across the River Camel. The building of lighthouses to assist navigation was also seen pious charitable work. The 13th-century lighthouse known as the Tower of Hook, located at the eastern entrance to Waterford Harbour in Ireland is still functioning and it is believed to be one of the oldest working lighthouses in the world. In 1566 Aberdeen town council in Scotland decided for the safety of shipping to Figure 6. The ‘hermit’s window’ in Holy Trinity Church, Dartford

4 On 29 October 1423, when the new hermit It is probable that the Roman bridges over the (and bridge warden) of Maidenhead Bridge Tyne at Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the Thames (Berkshire), Richard Ludlow was inducted to at London both possessed shrines. Roman the hermitage of Maidenhead Bridge by local objects recovered from vicinity of old London a priest. This induction provided Richard with Bridge during dredging carried out between detailed guidance, which explained that in 1834 and 1841 include many coins and a addition to his spiritual commitments, he was bronze head of the Emperor Hadrian (AD 117- spend everything except bare necessities on 38) (Fig 8 ), suggesting that there was a statue maintaining the bridge and local roads. The of him on the bridge. Many Roman bridges hermit at St Mary’s Bridge chapel, Derby (Fig processed inscriptions or monuments 7), collected alms and tolls. commemorating their builders, often emperors. At Alcántara over the Tagus in At the southern end of the Clopton Bridge, Spain, an arch placed on the bridge Stratford-upon-Avon (Warwickshire) there commemorates the Emperor Trajan (AD 98- was both a chapel and a hermitage. But there 117). A small temple placed at one end of the are many more references to hermits soliciting bridge commemorating the bridge engineer alms for and maintaining bridges than there Caius Julius Lacer was later converted into a are hermitages. Not all hermits were godly chapel dedicated to St Julian. men, in 1354 the hermit of Corbridge Bridge (Northumberland) was pardoned for the theft In about AD 560 a historian known Procopius of a pig. of Caesarea wrote a sycophantic account of the numerous construction projects undertaken by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian (AD 527-65), these including building various churches (showing his piety) and bridges. In one instance a church was constructed at one end of a bridge supposedly for travellers to take ‘refuge’ in during storms. According to the mostly legendary life of St Swithun (died AD 862), Bishop of Winchester (Hamps), one day while St Swithun was supervising the construction of ‘City Bridge’ across the River Itchen, a poor woman carrying eggs to sell at the market was jostled by the workmen and all her eggs were broken. St Swithun seeing her distress promptly Figure 7. St Mary’s Bridge chapel, Derby performed a miracle and repaired all the (photograph kindly provided by Peter Hodgson) broken eggs. Even though this account was compiled almost 150 years after St Swithun’s When were the first bridge chapels built? death, it shows that by the early 11th century it was believed that Anglo-Saxon bishops took an active interest in the construction of From the mid-2nd millennium BC onward bridges. across Britain and there is evidence of prehistoric ritual deposition or votive offerings During 1031-37 Eludes II, Count of Blois in in watery locations associated with river France announced he would construct a bridge crossings. The excavation of an Iron Age across the Loire at Tours in France, for the causeway by the River Witham at Fiskerton benefit of his soul. At Avignon in France, St (Lincolnshire) revealed a variety of domestic Bénézet (died circa 1184), during the 1170s is and military objects including four swords, two credited with organising the construction of a of which were in their scabbards and three bridge across the River Rhone for which he was socketed iron spear heads.

5 canonized. He was buried within the chapel erected on his bridge (Fig 9). While Harrison (2004, The Bridges of Medieval : transport and society 400-800) Early examples of English bridge chapels estimated that there were about 100 medieval include Ouse Bridge (York) built around 1170- bridge chapels in England, until now, there has 80; and in 1196 the post of ‘chaplain to Exe been no comprehensive study of bridge Bridge’ was documented implying the chapels, hospitals and other religious existence of a bridge chapel. London Bridge structures associated with bridges in Britain. which was completed by 1209 had a chapel as Antiquarian studies focussed on the few well an integral part of its design (see frontispiece). known extant examples built on bridge piers The practice of building bridge chapels and such as at Rotherham (South Yorkshire), St Ives shrines continued across Britain until the and Wakefield. Remains of chapels on Elvet Reformation. One of the latest examples of Bridge, Durham and St Mary’s Bridge chapel, bridge chapel construction was the example Derby built over arches on bridges tended to the built at Dee Bridge, Aberdeen (Scotland), be overlooked as were those located at the this bridge was completed by Bishop Dunbar in end of bridges including Morpeth and 1527. Rochester. Many vanished bridge chapels are known from medieval documentary sources, and antiquarian accounts, particularly John Leland’s survey in the mid-16th century, but no comprehensive gazetteer has been produced to date. Our project set out to compile a list of these forgotten buildings from a range of sources including printed Chancery Records (in particular, the Patent Rolls), local authority Historic Environment Records, the digital resources of the Archaeology Data Service and British History Online. To date we have identified over 250 sites of bridge chapels and related monuments (including ferry and ford chapels, plus lighthouse and beacon chapels) across Britain and Ireland as well as numerous examples from across Europe. The British and Irish gazetteers entries include a Figure 8. The head of a colossal bronze statue comprehensive history of each structure and a (height 41cm) of the Emperor Hadrian (born AD bibliography including key published and 76, reigned 117-38) aged about 30, some 15 online sources of data. years before his visit to Britannia in AD 122. It was recovered during dredging of the Thames in 1834 close to the third arch of old London Bridge. It may represent an ex-situ portion of a statue originally located on the Roman bridge (source Home, G, 1948 Roman London AD 43- 457, London, 86)

Figure 9. The two storey chapel on Avignon Bridge, the lower one is dedicated to St Bénézet How numerous were bridge chapels and and upper one to St Nicholas related monuments and institutions?

6 Stanford, which payde for the workmanfhepe, and making of this brygg, the which was rered and made the first day of May, in the first yere of the rayne of kyng Edwarde the VIth [1547- 48]’. Placing plaques on bridges asking people to pray for the soul of the builder or sponsor before the Reformation was not unusual, but this late date is unusual as is also the fact the word ‘soul’ is omitted from the text reflecting the impact of the Reformation on doctrine. Most crosses shrines and plaques were In 2021 we will publish a volume of synthesis probably removed from bridges the English and discussion devoted to British bridge Reformation or in the succeeding centuries. chapels to supplement the online site Charitable bequests to bridges continued after gazetteers. This will be the first major the Reformation, but for centuries the publication devoted to the topic of bridge surviving bridge chapels ceased to have a chapels of medieval and will place these religious function. monuments in their international context. In countries such as Roman Catholic France

and Spain as well as orthodox Russia where the What happened to all these English protestant Reformation did not take root the bridge chapels and related monuments? practice of erecting religious statues and shrines on bridge carried on. One famous example of this practice is the Charles Bridge The majority of English bridge chapels were (completed during the 15th century) in Prague, closed and their funds confiscated during the (Czech Republic), which during the 17th and Reformation particularly as a result of the 18th was decorated with numerous statues of Chantries Act of 1547. Quite a number of saints and shrines (Fig 10), including St John of bridge chapels survived the Reformation and Nepomuk, who was tied to a wheel at drowned acquired other functions. At Morpeth, by the in the River Vltava during 1393 on the orders mid-16th century part of the bridge chapel was of the local king. occupied by the town’s grammar school and the rest of it as served a chapel of ease for the town, a role it retained until 1846. Some chapels passed into civic ownership during the Reformation and subsequently served a charitable function. At Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk) the former chapel became almshouses and that at St Mary’s, Derby served initially as a workshop to employ the poor. Other examples ended up as prisons. For instance, the chapel on Town Bridge, Bradford on Avon (Wiltshire) was apparently rebuilt as a lockup during the early 18th century. St Edmund’s on Exe Bridge, which had once been a chapel, became a parish church in the Middle Ages and remained in use until the 1950s. Stanford Bridge at Stanford on Teme () formerly possessed an inscribed brass plaque bearing the wording: ‘Pray for Humfrey Pakynton efq. born in

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Figure 11. The undercroft or cellar storey of the medieval chapel uncovered in 1832 during the demolition of Old London Bridge

Antiquarian interest in English bridge chapels begun with Norrison Scatcherd, who in 1828 published a treatise on ancient bridge chapels, largely devoted to Wakefield bridge chapel in an attempt to promote its restoration. By the Figure 10. Statue of St John of Nepomuk on 1840s there was growing public pressure for King Charles Bridge in Prague the restoration of Wakefield chapel (Fig 12), which was described as decayed and During the later 18th and 19th centuries desecrated. The chapel was rebuilt (rather economic expansion and growth of road traffic than restored) by Sir George Gilbert Scott in in England led to the demolition of bridge 1847 and reopened an Anglican parish church chapels. The replacement of many medieval before becoming a chapel of ease. bridges (which mostly had a width of 9 to 12 Subsequently a few other English bridge feet or 2.7-3.6m, and the widest urban bridges chapels including St Mary’s Bridge, Derby (Fig 15 feet or 4.5 m) with new dual-roadway 13) and St Mary’s Rotherham (South Yorkshire) bridges. During this rebuilding many chapels have been restored as places of worship. Other and other structures situated on bridges or at bridge chapels at Duxford, St Ives, Morpeth the end of bridges were demolished. For and Rochester have been restored as historic instance, at Bedford, the former chapel was monuments rather than places of worship. probably located within one of the two gatehouses on the bridge, both of which were demolished in 1765 to allow the traffic to flow more quickly and then about 40 years later the medieval bridge was replaced. When medieval London Bridge was demolished in 1832, the undercroft of its bridge chapel was discovered beneath the roadway (Fig 11).

Figure 12. Wakefield Bridge chapel

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Figure 13. The interior of the chapel at St Mary’s Bridge Derby (photograph kindly provided by Peter Hodgson)

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